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| Church of Holy Angels |
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| Hoar Cross Hall |
Hoar Cross is in East Staffordshire. It has a vast church, built in the late 19th century. Hugo Francis Meynell Ingram of Hoar Cross Hall and Temple Newsham married Emily Charlotte Wood, the daughter of the 1st Viscount Halifax in 1863. When he died in 1871, his widow devoted her life to building the church in his memory and embellishing it. She employed as the architect George Frederick Bodley, one of the architects of Liverpool Cathedral. The tower is 110 feet high. The church was dedicated in 1876 and first service was conducted by the Bishop of Lichfield. Later the nave was lengthened by a futher bay and the Lady Chapel north of the chapel added in 1891. The chapel south of the chantry was added in 1900.
The church was not open when I called but it is described in some detail by both Mee and Pevsner. In the the chantry chapel there is the tomb of Hugo Ingram with an alabaster effigy showing him in the uniform of the Staffordshire yeomanry. Adjacent is an alabaster figure of his wife, who survived him by 33 years. The head carved by L J Chavalliaud is said to be a perfect likeness. I do not share Mee's enthusiasm for the place. It is sad that someone should have spent 33 years and a vast fortune to create a shrine to one man on this scale.
Hoar Cross Hall was designed in the Jacobean style by Henry Clutton and built between 1862 and 1871. Today it is a popular spa venue where one can exercise, undergo a variety of treatments and enjoy fine dining.
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| Church of Holy Angels |
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| Hoar Cross Hall |
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| East End | Garden nymph |
The Buildings of England, Staffordshire, by Nikolaus Pevsner, Penguin, 1974, ISBN 0 14 071046 9
The King's England, Staffordshire, by Arthur Mee, Hodder and Stoughton, London, first published in 1937.
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